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The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority.

Lord Acton

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Lord Acton
Fraud
Tyranny
Majority
Democracy
Evil
Pervading

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Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.
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When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.
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By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes to be his duty against the influences of authority and majorities, custom and opinion.
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The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class. It is not the realisation of a political ideal: it is the discharge of a moral obligation.
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Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.
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Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power -- power sufficient to interfere with property.
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I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.
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Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen.
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The reward of history is that it releases and relieves us from present strife.
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The test of liberty is the position and security of minorities.
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Socialism means slavery.
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Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.
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When the last of the Reformers died, religion, instead of emancipating the nations, had become an excuse for the criminal art of despots. Calvin preached, and Bellarmine lectured but Machiavelli reigned.
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History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.
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There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men.
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The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world... History is the true demonstration of Religion.
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Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.
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From the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason.
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The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.
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Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.
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